1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for sorting coins, comprising a first and at least a second receiving container for receiving coins. Further, the device has a separating unit for separating coins and a transport unit for transporting coins from the separating unit to the first receiving container arranged downstream of the separating unit and the second receiving container arranged downstream of the first receiving container, the transport unit having a first transport section and a second transport section. The first transport section is arranged between the separating unit and the first receiving container so that along the first transport section both the coins to be fed to the first receiving container and to the second receiving container are transported. The second transport section is arranged between the first and the second transport container so that along the second transport section only the coins which have not been fed to the first receiving container are transported.
2. Description of the Related Art
In devices for the input and/or output of coins the coins input as an unsorted quantity of coins are distributed to a plurality of receiving containers, so-called coin hoppers, after they have been separated, their authenticity has been checked and their denomination has been determined. In particular, a type-specific storage of the coins is carried out, i.e. that for each denomination at least one receiving container is provided.
For this, in particular a sorting path is provided which comprises a support surface on which the coins rest during transport and in which several holes having an increasing size in the transport direction of the coins are arranged. One coin receiving container each is arranged under each of these holes, so that the coins are distributed to the individual receiving containers dependent on their size. Due to the high processing speed and the different condition of the coins it may, however, happen that a coin is inadvertently fed to an incorrect receiving container. This is particularly critical when the coins are again disbursed since, when an incorrect coin is received in a coin hopper, thus the incorrect amount of money would be disbursed.
Therefore, devices are known in which for determining the correct feeding of the individual coins to the individual receiving containers light barriers for detecting the coins are arranged in the entry area of the receiving containers or in the area between the hole and the receiving container, i.e. in any case in the area in which the coins are in free fall. Such devices are known, for example, from documents DE 20 2006 007 932 U1 and DE 29 807 688 U1. What is problematic here is that in the case of coins which are in free fall it may easily happen that due to the rotation of the coins and the close sequence of successively fed coins, the light beam of the light barrier is continuously interrupted in the case of two successively fed coins so that the two coins are perceived as only one coin by the light barrier. It may also happen that in the case of an unfortunate rotation and position a coin does not interrupt the light beam at all. Both results in incorrect determinations of the number of coins fed to the corresponding receiving container. Further, it may happen that the light beam of the light barrier is permanently interrupted when the receiving container has a filling level that is so high that the received coins are stacked up to the area of the light barrier.
It is the object of the invention to specify a device for sorting coins, in which a monitoring of the orderly feeding of the coins to the individual receiving containers is reliably possible in an easy manner.